jason524•18d agoProlific Poster

Warning: I wrecked an entire batch of cupcakes before I figured out the problem

So I've been baking cupcakes for about 2 years now, nothing fancy just for my kid's school events and family stuff. Last month I made a batch for a bake sale at our local library in Portland and they came out all flat and dense, not fluffy at all. I was so frustrated I almost threw the whole tray out. Then my neighbor who used to work at a bakery saw me complaining and asked if I was creaming my butter and sugar long enough. I thought 30 seconds was fine but she said it needs at least 3 full minutes until it's pale and fluffy. Tried that the next weekend with a fresh batch and the difference was night and day. Has anyone else had a basic step like that totally mess up their results without realizing it?

2 comments

2 Comments

jones.brooke18d ago

Ask your neighbor if she also told you about letting your eggs come to room temp before adding them. That was my next screw up after I figured out the creaming thing. I'd pull butter out of the fridge and eggs at the same time and wonder why my batter looked curdled. Took me another three batches to realize the cold eggs were shocking the butter back into solid little chunks. Now I leave eggs out for at least 30 minutes before I even start measuring flour.

morgan.mary18d ago

Oh man, the butter and sugar thing got me too lol. I used to make cookies that spread out like pancakes until I watched a baking video that showed what "light and fluffy" actually looks like with the electric mixer. It felt ridiculous standing there for 3 minutes but the texture change is real. What helped me was setting a timer on my phone so I wouldn't stop early out of impatience. Another thing that surprised me was checking my oven temperature with a separate thermometer because my oven dial was off by 25 degrees the whole time. Small stuff like that makes such a huge difference it's almost embarrassing.